I was at the game and saw it from the full angle. We were all blown away. My daughter, who played college ball, said it was like a quarterback making a tight long pass between defenders with the receiver making a great catch.
It was a definite Big Deal last night at Walsh. For whatever reason, since I just bought my tickets through the box office, we were in a UCONN section. We were all saying the same thing. Why doesn't CW get the ball more? She is so much stronger than last year and has great drive moves and was unstoppable last night. Getting the ball on the weave up top doesn't help her. She needs clear outs.
A wild guess is double-digit lead (not necessarily 10/11) he'd put her in if they get to that (maybe 15+).
The reality of hoops is that teams always look better when the ball goes through the hoop. The test is whether or not the shots were good shots in the flow. Williams, Westbrook and even Paige were not really on with jump shots. Ditto Muhl who has shown she isn’t a hopeless shooter. I didn’t notice many totally forced shots. We shot lousy from the outside and won by 25. As I said in another post, the lack of freshman production from such a highly regarded class is a bit more concerning, acknowledging Azzi’s absence, but if not a big issue this year, these kids are pretty important going forward. But it’s early yet.
Clark scored 4 in the first half. Took over the game in second half and scored at least 18 points.
While I've been on the side of big caution with CD this year, I expect she'll be fine next year.
Caroline is obvioiusly feeling the pressure. She STILL got only 5 minutes PT in the last game. No doubt she had a bad game but she needs to get in the flow of things and not feel she is going to be yanked any second if she doesn't produce immediately. Geno needs to understand that some kids need nurturing and some kids need support in order to produce. It's not "kick them in the pants" daily and see who is left. He looks like he is going to have a heart attack over every mistake.
Give Caroline more time? Really? That was Seton Hall UCONN was playing!
That was an outstanding show.
Stop making excuses and trying to change how Geno runs the the team. Caroline was put into the game yesterday ironically because Christyn Williams was not playing well at 7:07. That was less than 3 minutes into the game and UCONN was leading 7 to 6. Caroline was sub out @ 4:31. That's 2:36 of game time in which Caroline committed two fouls, missed a 3Pt shot and committed a turnover which enabled SH to take a 13 to 7 lead. That's correct UCONN did not score with Caroline on the floor during this stretch. What in Haties are you asking Geno to do, leave her in the game to dig a bigger hole? Since when is putting a player into the game less than 3 minutes in considered a daily kick in the pants?
Geno wants perfection and younger inexperienced players tend to look no so smooth it drives him crazy. Times have changed enjoy the process coach.
There are seniors on the team who make the same mistakes. For example Ono at the beginning of the game. Double dribble at top of key. Geno keeps saying we have no depth. Geno, sir, this is your bench, your depth, coach them up.Caroline looks like a "deer in the headlights." In her few 1st half minutes, she dribbled the ball off her foot, committed a silly foul and shot up an airball.
I don't see anywhere in my post where I stated Geno should give Caroline an opportunity to match up against Mies or Citron, although neither you or I knows whether or not she can guard them effectively, or just as well as her teammates can. She has made mistakes and so have the starters so it will benefit the team in the long run to let her get out there play more minutes. It will help the bench to get stronger. Also, don't think for a minute that ND is not trying to win a NC.
Agree that Liv’s double dribble to start the game was a head-scratcher, but Liv did some good things as well. Caroline dribbling off her foot, committing dumb fouls and throwing up an Airball, all in just a few minutes, reminded me of some of the kids who played in my son’s YMCA league when he was 8 yrs old.
“Slipping away”? She was honorable mention (i.e., not considered among the top 10-15 players) last year. This year, on a team that’s “struggling” (okay, by our own excessive standards), I’d say her chances are more like slim & none, barring a major turnaround on her part (which seems unlikely, 3.5 years in).
Are you serious? After 35 years and 11 NC's? Can you name a better coach that understands what individual players need? He's the king of motivation.
Exactly. It’s why Geno constantly challenges Paige while praising Azzi. They are polar opposites who respond differently to coaching.
Not efficiently. But with Czinano in foul trouble, she had to launch and launch.
He’s doing it to preempt future fouls to his star player. Coaches do that all the time even when (sometimes especially when) it is clearly an accidental/unintentional foul. They are attempting to imprint on the referee the sure and certain expectation that they (the refs) can expect a serious tantrum if they get lax on calling fouls against the star player, especially those fouls that may be rough or potentially dangerous to that player. Of course they are also concerned about all the other players as well but they (coaches) are particularly sensitive about their star, especially when that star is fairly slight/small and thus might be the deliberate target of rough or intimidating play in an effort to physically affect her/his performance.
I think Azzi is likely to turn out to be a very good player, perhaps even a great one. However, (realizing that injury may be largely or somewhat responsible for her performance level so far) it is abundantly clear that those (and there were many) posters who insisted that Azzi was better (or at least as good) as Paige were engaging in wishful thinking! Players like Paige are unbelievably rare and to blithely expect two “unicorns” in consecutive recruiting years is simply unrealistic. Again, this is not to say Azzi will not be a great player! She may end up on the wall along with other UConn greats. I certainly hope she does! I’m simply saying that imo, those posters just don’t truly understand how special and rare Paige Bueckers really is.
I don't care what ND does. UCONN plays ND tomorrow. Do you want Caroline to play or not?
Hate to say it but I think once we get into conference play, it might be good to sit Paige down for three games in a row. I know that’s not gonna happen but imo it would force the team to step up and play together w/o the “Paige will take over if we get behind” mentality. If they lost it would be a “slap in the face” reality check that might change their attitude in practice and if they won, it would give them confidence that they can win without her!
As I stated, I have no idea of her ceiling at this level. I would be surprised though if the Uconn staff put her on the court compromised, saw her inability to keep up on defense and still left her on the court resulting in her sitting out. I could be wrong but since I don’t know the nature and cause of her current injury I am totally speculating. If it has been shared, it is on a thread I haven‘t visited.
Neither have we!
Well that’s not gonna happen, but, as I previously proposed, how about obtaining a sizable lead by the half, sitting Paige, and telling the team it’s “their’s to win or lose”?